"Sex Is Not a Separate Nor A Purely Physical Attribute Of A Man's Character"

"The subject of the five "obscenity" cases was not obscenity as such—which is a marginal and inconsequential matter—but a much deeper issue: the sexual aspect of man's life. Sex is not a separate nor a purely physical attribute of a man's character: it involves a complex integration of all his fundamental values. So it is not astonishing that cases dealing with sex (even in its ugliest manifestations) would involve the influence of all the branches of philosophy. We have seen the influence of ethics, epistemology, politics, aesthetics (this last as the immediate victim of the debate). What about the fifth branch of philosophy, the basic one, the fundamental of the science of fundamentals: metaphysics? Its influence is revealed in—and explains—the inner contradictions of each camp. The metaphysical issue is their view of man's nature."

Ayn Rand, The Ayn Rand Letter, Censorship" Local and Express, p. 240.